A bus driver was allowed to keep anything nobody claimed. One evening he walked through his bus and found a board game. Two days later his children were screaming in the basement. Fr. Dan Reehil, an exorcist, had the case here in Nashville. The rule at the depot was simple, and so was the mistake: "SO ONE DAY HE WALKS THROUGH THE BUS AT THE END OF THE DAY, THERE'S A OUIJA BOARD. TWO DAYS LATER, HE TAKES IT HOME, GIVES IT TO HIS KIDS." A gift. A free toy from work. The children took it downstairs. Then the screaming, and the father running down to see what a parent should never have to see: "HE SEES THE LITTLE ICON THING MOVING ON ITS OWN. SIX, SIX, SIX. AND NOBODY'S TOUCHING IT." He did what any of us would do. He threw it in the bin. Fr. Reehil's verdict on that is two words: "TOO LATE." The board was gone and the nights were not. The children woke with terrors, again and again, until the father called his pastor, the pastor called the Church, and a priest came and blessed the house. "ALL CLEANED UP. EVERYTHING'S GONE. EVERYBODY SLEPT LIKE A BABY THAT NIGHT." And then the part of this story that nobody who hears it forgets. The next morning the man went to work and finished his shift: "BRAND NEW OUIJA BOARD ON THE BACK OF THE BUS. NOT EVEN OPENED." "HE CALLS AND HE GOES, THIS THING IS AFTER ME." Fr. Reehil did not panic and did not tell him to move house. He gave him two steps, in one breath: "JUST DOUSE IT WITH THE HOLY WATER I LEFT YOU AND THEN BURN IT." "AND HE DID. AND THAT WAS THE END." Notice what worked and what did not. The bin did nothing. The house was quiet again when it was blessed, and the thing stopped following him when it was met with holy water and fire. Not because an object has power, but because of what gets invited along with it, and because that invitation can be taken back. Not every bad dream is this. Children have nightmares for ordinary reasons and most of them need a nightlight, not a priest. But if something is in your house that was a doorway, a board, a charm, a deck of cards from a shop you now regret, it does not belong in the bin. Ask your parish for holy water this Sunday. It costs nothing and they will not think you are strange. And tonight, before you go up, stand in the hallway and say it out loud: "Lord Jesus, I renounce everything that ever came into this house through a game, a gift or my own curiosity. It has no claim here and no claim on my children. Guard them while they sleep tonight. Amen." 👇 One word if you are walking through your house tonight: CLEAN.

Fr. Dan Reehil, an exorcist, was walking back from the beach on the last day of a retreat in Florida. He had one idle thought: I didn't see a single blue jay or cardinal all week. Maybe it's too hot for them down here. "AS I'M HAVING THE THOUGHT, SOMETHING COMES UP FROM BEHIND ME AND SMACKS ME IN THE HEAD." A cardinal. It landed on a branch six feet in front of him, right next to a blue jay, the two of them touching. Two birds that never get along. He asked what it was doing. And he says he heard an answer he has never forgotten: "DON'T EVER FORGET THAT I AM SO CLOSE TO YOU. THAT I CAN MANIFEST WHAT YOU'RE THINKING BEFORE YOU COMPLETE THE THOUGHT." "IT'S THE ONLY THING I REMEMBER FROM THE RETREAT." And on the days he feels completely alone, he holds on to this: "JUST BECAUSE WE CAN'T FEEL HIM DOESN'T MEAN HE'S NOT THERE." Tonight, before you finish your next thought, say: "Lord, You are closer than I think. Don't let me forget it. Amen." Share this with someone who feels alone tonight. 👇 One word if you believe He is close: NEAR. — Father Dan Reehil community